MotoGP: Jorge Martin destroys lap record down under

Jorge Martin takes pole position and destroys the lap record in Australia.

The dynamic of the Australian Grand Prix was completely changed after the main race was moved to Saturday. High winds and rain are expected with the Sprint now taking place on Sunday, weather permitting. There was also drama in the LCR camp with Alex Rins (LCR Honda CASTROL) announcing that he would withdraw from the weekend.

KTM looked incredibly strong in practice with mixed results for some of the Championship contenders. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) was fourth with the Championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) down in 11^th. This meant that Bagnaia had to go through Qualifying One.

Joining Bagnaia in the first Qualifying session was Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and both Marquez brothers. 

After the first run of Q1 it was the rookie, Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) who was fastest. Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) were separated by 0.001 in second.

There was a lot of traffic in the second run with Bagnaia managing to set a time fast enough to top Q1. Marc Marquez managed to slip through to Q2 on his final lap in the session after following Fernandez. 

The 12 riders remaining in Qualifying had near-perfect conditions during the 15-minute Q2 session. Jorge Martin was the first rider to set a lap in Q2 and set the fastest lap of the weekend.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) split the Championship rivals at the end of the first run. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was down in eighth after his first run as he celebrated his home round.

Tows are the talking point in Q2

Half the field looked for a tow in the second run of the weekend with everyone looking to follow Bagnaia. Marc Marquez was the rider on the back of his tail with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) following Martin.

The entire field risked everything in Q2 with Martin improving by six tenths of a second and a new lap record. Nobody matched the time by the end of the session with Binder and Bagnaia joining him on the front row. Aleix Espargaro ended the session in fourth with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) rounding out the top five.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) had a great session in sixth with Marc Marquez starting the third row. Jack Miller ended his home Qualifying down in eighth after a frustrating moment with Espargaro.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) was in ninth and the second Aprilia on the grid for the Australian GP. Marc Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) rounded off the top 10 ahead of a thrilling race.

The next time the MotoGP riders will be on track will be at 05:10 am BST for the Australian Grand Prix.

Image credit: motogp.com